Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
how this cooperative approach was pioneered by Napa winegrape growers and
vintners. It has been copied to varying degrees by other premium production
regions.
12. Of all the industry leaders, Robert Mondavi Winery has played a singular
role in constructing association between wine and environmental quality. It has
done this on its own “estate” lands with contract growers. Upon his return from
Europe in the 1960s, Robert Mondavi launched an incentive system for quality
grape growing, and later developed an education program for growers that
would have them taste the range of wine quality as it varied according to condi-
tions of production (Mondavi 1998). In the 1990s, this effort became formalized
as “quality improvement groups” in regions outside Napa, and this laid early
groundwork for partnerships in the Lodi and Central Coast regions. Robert
Mondavi Winery management facilitated growers addressing winegrape quality,
which came to include environmental quality as well. Winegrape growers and
vineyard managers in Napa and elsewhere confirm the importance of this
winery's leadership. Mondavi shifted from an IPM and piecemeal approach to
environmentally friendly agriculture to practicing sustainable agriculture on
winery-owned lands in 1990. The recent sale of Mondavi clouds the future of
these commitments.
13. See Conaway 1990, Conaway 2002, Friedland 2002, and Warner 2006b.
14. One participant in NSWG said “. . . a system where the workers understand
sustainability is more sustainable than when it's just the bosses in the coffee shop
and it's an intellectual thing.” Another NSWG participant said “the person han-
dling the vine has to be the one who understands the principle behind it, and is
able better to implement it then as a result.”
15. See Friedland 2002.
16. In 2003, Robert Mondavi Winery, Beringer-Blass, Diageo, E. & J. Gallo, and
Fetzer collectively farmed or contracted vineyard management for 18,000 acres,
and buy from 19,000 acres, consuming 42 percent of the region's 86,5000 acres.
17. Sulfur accounts for roughly one-third of the PUR-reported pesticide use in
California, and 66 percent of its use is on grapes. From 1997 to 1999, of all
grape sulfur drift incidents that took place in California, 35 percent were in the
North Coastal Counties (with 26 percent of the winegrape acreage) and 11
percent were in the Central Coast Counties (with 18 percent of the acreage),
compared with 43 percent in the south San Joaquin Valley (with 30 percent of
the acreage). The number of drift complaints has increased over time, due
to increased acreages but also these regions' extensive winegrape/residential
interface. Of all California perennial crops, winegrapes have the second highest
acreage, and are thus the leading perennial crop user of persistent, or pre-
emergent, herbicides under FQPA review. The DPR has discussed further restric-
tions on sulfur, and supported the winegrape industry working cooperatively to
reduce complaints about sulfur and the use of these materials in general. See
Browde 2002.
18. This synergy is described in greater detail in Warner in review (b).
